Some helpful sites

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I'm All Ears

So how do we know if a child is hearing sound? I'd like to think I am pretty good at it since I do it all the time, but every once in a while I will be wondering myself...is this little one hearing this? I have really found that some babies and toddlers are awesome at letting us know that they are aware of sounds in their environment. There are some that are not...the sneaky ones that keep us on our toes! No matter what I always feel more comfortable saying a definitive yes or no when I really know a baby. So that's where you come in parents...make yourself comfortable with looking for those true responses versus one that may be chance.

As soon as birth infants give predictable responses to sounds that occur above their hearing thresholds. Children with hearing loss are no different. Here are some responses you may see:

Smiling
Cessation of vocalization/behavior
Eye or head turns
Crying
Looking at or for the sound source
Pointing to ear
Reciprocity in babbling (like back and forth with an adult)
Imitation of sounds
Pointing to ear